Super Skull Smash GO!

Numbskull

Super Skull Smash GO! boasts such a convincing retro aesthetic that you might find yourself wondering whether's it's been cunningly recycled from the days of the ZX Spectrum.

However, this is very much a modern game, despite what the occasionally rough design might suggest.

The main objective is to throw a skull at a shrine located within each level. This might sound straightforward, but it's actually much easier said than done.

For starters, you need to leap onto the head of a skeleton to gain access to his skull. This can then be picked up and thrown - or kicked - in the direction of the shrine.

Out of my skull

However, levels are designed so that you rarely have a clear shot at the aforementioned shrine, and carrying the skull to a suitable vantage point is often out of the question due to the narrow spaces you need to pass through.

You sometimes have to throw the skull at a blue pad which will bounce it around the level, and you need to make sure you're in the right place to pluck it out of thin air.

Some of the level designs are downright fiendish, and will take several minutes of experimentation before they finally revealing their solution.

When you've bested the available stages you can move onto the challenge of collecting all of the coins contained within each one - you can secure these either by moving your character over them or by hurling a skull in their direction.

Super Skull Smash GO! certainly has some clever levels, but there are other elements of the game which could have done with a little more attention.

Whenever you die, you have to wait patiently for the screen to slowly scroll back to the map, and then wait again for it to scroll back to the level you were originally on. This takes a few seconds, and when you're stuck on a particularly taxing stage, it soon becomes frustrating.

Skullduggery

Another annoyance is the way the skeleton respawns. Because his skull is so essential to completing the level, you can't totally destroy him - whenever the skull is thrown into a wall, its owner magically pops out of thin air above a pile of bones. If you're anywhere in the vicinity of these bones, you usually end up dying as you’re given no chance to move your character to safety before the skeleton re-appears.

Despite its rough edges, Super Skull Smash GO! is still an enjoyable throwback to the days when games didn't require high-concept plotlines and spectacular visuals to enthrall the player. It's challenging, controls well and might even bring a nostalgic tear to the eye of veteran players old enough to recall the days of buying £1.99 games on cassette tapes.